Conclusions: The Spanish Fiscal Transition and Beyond

This chapter summarises the main contributions of the book and situates them within a broader frame in both chronological and geographical terms. It looks at the evolution of the Spanish tax system after 1990, with further piecemeal reforms following from international trends. Reductions in income tax progressivity seem to have been compatible with increased redistribution, given rising inequality of gross incomes. The book then discusses tax trends in Latin America through the last decades: some parallels are found with the Spanish experience, and therefore some lessons may be drawn. The conclusion suggests that, in the political economy of the second globalisation, late democratising peripheral countries were unable to construct the same type of welfare systems that their forerunners did in the postwar period.